MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Where will Vermont find billions of dollars for new schools? That’s the question raised by a new report that reveals staggering costs for fixing or replacing the state’s aging school buildings.
The state has not provided any aid to help with school construction costs since 2007 and the new report lays out a path forward.
“How can we have schools serve the entire community? I think there is a paradigm shift there,” said Jill Briggs Campbell with the Vermont Agency of Education.
State lawmakers three years ago set off to identify school conditions statewide, what role they play in the community, and how much it would cost to bring them up to date. The report recommends the state create a new fund specifically for school construction aid.
“How do we align limited state dollars with educational priorities that exist and be able to rebuild, refresh, renovate or potentially even build new schools that will match those priorities,” Campbell said.
Vermont schools are some of the oldest in the nation and some districts are also contending with PCB contamination that will require expensive remediation. The contamination of Burlington High School was so bad officials decided to tear down the whole school and build a new one almost entirely at local taxpayer expense.
“There is an understanding and a real passion to do something about this,” said Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick, D-Chittenden County,
She says school conditions run the gamut. The question remains how to fund the astronomical cost? State Treasurer Mike Pieciak says new schools could split bonds between municipalities and the state. “Some areas won’t be able to afford bond votes. Some areas, politically, won’t be able to achieve them. So, that will set us down the course of a challenging future where we have some communities that don’t have the schools we need in terms of a 21st-century learning environment, that’s going to reflect their economy and their demographics,” he said.
This comes at a pivotal time for education. A combination of spiking property taxes, declining enrollment, and a shift in what learning looks like in the classroom is renewing calls for school closures or mergers. “We have no strategic plan right now. As far as I’m concerned, we have no mission or vision. It’s time to bring stakeholders to the table to talk about where we’re headed,” Sen. Gulick said.
Another task force in Montpelier will now dig into more granular details including who should have control of the fund, which schools should be prioritized, and whether the state will have to raise taxes.
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